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Unveiling the Enigmatic Prions and Their Impact on Living Organisms

Explore the mysterious world of prions, proteinaceous infectious particles that can lead to disease transmission. Learn about prions' origin, structure, shape transformations, and impact on organisms. Discover the hypothesis surrounding prions' behavior and their potential as a new form of life.

odette-hooper
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Unveiling the Enigmatic Prions and Their Impact on Living Organisms

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  1. Beyond Viruses…Beyond Viroids… Can create an “infection” that can lead to the death of the “infected organism? …appears to be able to replicate itself… …is not a bacteria! …is smaller than a virus? …is not a virus! …contains no genetic information …whose structure is made by all living things…

  2. PRIONS: The Brain Eater… A PRION is a… PROteinaceous INfectious particle. This simply means that a protein can cause a particular disease and it can be given to another individual and they can then get the same disease. HYPOTHESIS

  3. PRIONS: DID YOU KNOW… • People often assume that scientists try to prove hypotheses or theories. • WRONG • Hypotheses can never be proved; they can only be disproved. • A hypothesis that fails one or more tests is considered disproved and it is discarded. • A valid hypothesis can be revised.

  4. PRIONS: The Brain Eater… In Class Reading… The History of Scrapie, CDJ and Kuru

  5. PRIONS: Are PRIONs a new form of life? 1- Are PRIONs made of cell? NO 2- Are PRIONs organized? YES 3- Do PRIONs use energy? NO 4- Are PRIONs responsive? NO (hypothesized)

  6. PRIONS: Are PRIONs a new form of life? 5- Do PRIONs grow? (enlarge and divide) NO 6- Do PRIONs reproduce? YES (hypothesized) ~kind of, they recruit normal proteins by changing their shape 7- Do PRIONs adapt? Don’t know yet, they may mutate in other viable forms however.

  7. PRIONS: Are PRIONs a new form of life? 8- Do PRIONs die? NO, however like all proteins, their structure can be degraded or denatured by heat. 9- Do PRIONs come from pre-existing prions? YES (hypothesized) ~ existing PRIONs convert normal Prion-like protein structures into abnormal viablePRION geometries.

  8. PRIONS: Origin & Structure Pre-infectious prion proteins or PrPc, like this one are naturally created by and are found in the membranes of normal host cells. FACT

  9. PRIONS: Origin & Structure FACT All mammals appear to have prion protein genes and the gene sequences are similar, but not identical, in related species.

  10. PRIONS: Transformations

  11. PRIONS: Transformations

  12. PRIONS: Infection O – Origin of PRIONs Contaminated meat Digestive Track Blood Stream L – White Blood Cell S – Spleen N – Spleen to Brain B – Brain HYPOTHESIS

  13. Rouge Infectious PRION > PRIONS: Transformation Normal Prion Protein HYPOTHESIS Nerve Cell Rouge PRIONTransforms NormalPrion

  14. PRIONS: Shape Transformation “Shape Shifting” Normal Prions Infectious PRIONS Before AFTER

  15. PRIONS: Shape Transformation Before AFTER Normal Prions Infectious PRIONS

  16. PRIONS: What is the evidence? Normal Brain Tissue “Dead Space” AFTER Before Amyloid Clusters Diseased Brain Tissue

  17. PRIONS: What is the Impact? One part of the prion protein can cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death; FACT …perhaps this mechanism explains the pattern of the disease. HYPOTHESIS

  18. PRIONS: What is the Impact? Prions induce no immune reactions within the human. FACT …perhaps this mechanism explains the pattern of the disease. HYPOTHESIS

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